


Should, Could, Would

by DoctorScully (Emryslin)



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 07:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4616454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emryslin/pseuds/DoctorScully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mulder reflects and regrets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Should, Could, Would

It took seven years, the threat of apocalypse, and the excuse of New Year for Mulder to finally work up to kissing her. Her smile afterwards made him want to tell her, to blurt it out and then go right back to kissing her, never stopping until maybe the world really did end. 

He’d tried to tell her before, tried to find the words, but resorted instead to vows like “one in five billion” and “I just thought it was a cool keychain,” and “touchstone” that weren’t enough but that he hoped she understood anyway.

He’d kissed her once before, when he thought he’d never see her (or anyone) ever again; the last thing he’d wanted to do if his life was ending was to kiss her. The right hook had been worth it. And then his Scully fished him out of the Sargasso Sea and fussed him into a hospital. He’d been so happy to see her he’d blurted it out: “hey Scully. I love you.” She’d rolled her eyes and brushed it off like his usual flirtations, not knowing that even those, tinged with sarcasm as they were, held grains of truth the size of boulders. 

In his own way, he never tired of telling her. “Should we be picking out china patterns?” and “marry me” and “dear diary, today my heart leapt when Agent Scully suggested spontaneous human combustion.” Sometimes he thought that she heard what he really meant underneath, and she’d give him a soft Look that he wanted to spend the rest of his life deciphering. 

He found every excuse to spend time with her, dragging her around the country on cases that even he didn’t really believe, letting her fall asleep on his shoulder on stakeouts and long drives. He invited her out with the promise of a present, wanting to share his old favorite pastime with her (finding this excuse to put his arms around her and touch her hip and press his face close to hers was an incredible bonus. Her laughter made him feel light.) They began to hole up in one of their apartments together with old popcorn and a bad movie, one of them invariably falling asleep on the couch tucked up against the other. 

They went back to Oregon, where it had all started, and as scared as he was for her, it still felt like coming full circle. And when she’d come to his hotel room, shivering, it was as natural as breathing to curl himself around her and wish for the life she deserved. He should have told her then. He’d meant to.

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr [here](http://dcnascully.tumblr.com/post/127159927115/should-could-would-by-doctorscully-companion-to). This is a companion, in a way, to [X Marks the Spot](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4495860), in which Scully reflects.


End file.
